Texas Baseball's updated top 8 national seed resume, and how it stacks up with the rest of the pack

Heading into the SEC Tournament, we assured fans that Texas Baseball, no matter the result in Hoover, was guaranteed a spot in one of the coveted top 8 national seeds. These spots, given to the eight best teams in the sport, assure home-field advantage in both the regional and super regional slates, if the teams advance.

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Playing at home in every game between the regular season and Omaha is the type of edge that makes the difference in a push towards the College World Series, as half of the teams that have made the last two CWS tournaments have been top-eight national seeds.

With that note, Texas exited the SEC Tournament about as quickly as they entered, pushing our theories to the limits.

But as you woke up this morning, Texas still sat in an extremely favorable position.

RPI: 5
KPI: 5
DSR: 6

These are the three ratings to pay the most attention to as we approach Selection Monday. All three are calculations of resume and strength of schedule, just calculated differently. DSR is the ‘newest age’ of the three, as its calculations use an ELO system similar to chess, where teams exchange points in each individual game.

As you can see, Texas feels pretty safe with these stats.

Four programs are ahead in all three categories: UCLA, Georgia Tech, UNC and Auburn.

But sometimes it isn’t quite as simple as strictly looking at these numbers. UCLA and Georgia Tech are assured two of the top three spots in the Field of 64, but Georgia is also guaranteed above Texas, despite being behind in RPI and KPI.

That’s because they were comfortably the No. 1 team in the SEC conference play, doubled down by their run to the SEC Tournament Championship that will be decided today.

The conversation really starts at five for Texas, as UNC is probably also ahead of them with their own run to the ACC Tournament final.

Auburn looks like the better team of the two, higher in all three rating systems, but remember that Texas both ranked ahead of them in the SEC, and has the H2H win at Auburn.

That does move the needle in terms of deciding between two teams. Auburn did play the tougher out-of-conference slate, and generally had the hardest strength of schedule in the nation. We wouldn’t be surprised if they take home the five spot, and Texas sits at six.

But there really is no argument for them to go lower than that. Texas A&M, Florida, Alabama and Florida State are all behind them in all three power ratings, and Florida is the only team that did anything to help their case in tournament play.

Alabama and A&M, both ranked behind Texas in the SEC and on these ratings, also lost pretty heavily in their first round of the tournament, and Florida State did as well in the ACC. Florida beating Georgia yesterday could’ve made things interesting, but the Bulldogs took care of business.

Texas would definitely like to dodge a pairing with Texas A&M, but both Florida schools would also be a big challenge were they to meet in the super regional.

The hope is probably to face a team like Alabama, which they’ve already beaten in a series in Austin, or a team from a lesser conference like Kansas, Nebraska or Southern Miss, who could also make a pitch for a top 8 national seed. West Virginia and Arkansas will probably take two of the final host spots, but that final position is heavily up for grabs. Oregon would take it were they to win the B10, and it’s probably a three-team race between the Ducks, Mississippi State and Oregon State.

The SEC Tournament was far from an impressive data point on the Texas resume, but the 52 other games the Longhorns played, losing just 13 overall, were more than enough to confirm a comfortable position in the NCAA Tournament.

One final look at the Texas Baseball Resume

40-13 overall, 19-10 in conference
2nd in SEC regular season
Top 5 RPI and KPI, No. 6 DSR
Undefeated OOC slate
12-2 series record, 8-2 in SEC
#9 SOS, 14-9 Q1 games (5th most wins)
Series wins over Auburn, Alabama, MS State, Ole Miss and Oklahoma

2026 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament Selection Show kicks off on Monday, May 25 at 11 A.M.